A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved brake system for use on moveable tool storage cabinets, hospital crash carts and other moveable cabinets and the like. The brake system of the present invention incorporates numerous features not found in the prior art, most notably the existence of a multiple brake means as well as the capability of actuating and releasing the braking means from a single remote location.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Moveable tool storage cabinets and hospital crash carts utilizing some form of a brake system are not new. Various types, shapes and sizes of moveable carts utilizing various forms of a brake system have been in use for many years in one form or another. However, for any moveable tool storage cabinet to be of any practical use to its field, it must be capable of quick mobility as well as possess secure braking power. Further, the movable tool storage cabinet, due to its extreme weight in normal situations, must be outfitted with a brake system that can apply braking pressure to multiple wheels from a single location as well as apply that brake pressure to a sufficient enough degree as to quickly and effortlessly overcome the momentum of the tool storage cabinet when the cabinet is in motion. Again, because of the extreme weight of such cabinets, such a brake system is critically necessary.
One drawback of the current brake systems on moveable tool storage cabinets, hospital crash carts and other similar structures, is the cumbersome method which the user must go through to actuate the brake systems. Current brake systems are constructed in such a way that each wheel or castor of the structure is outfitted with its own self contained brake system, with each such brake system only being actuated and released from each individual wheel location. In such a situation, the user must inconveniently move around the tool cabinet actuating and releasing each and every individual brake system at each of the brake systems' locations. Such a requirement is inefficient, cumbersome and time consuming, as well as being a difficult task to accomplish if the moveable tool storage cabinet is positioned on an uneven or sloping surface.
Another drawback of the current brake systems is the ineffective way in which brake power is applied to each wheel. The brake systems currently in use are the type where a small lever, mounted on the side of each wheel, is actuated to apply brake pressure and released in the other direction to relieve the same brake pressure. In essence, the current brake systems are a friction type setup, capable of applying minimal pressure to each wheel at best. When dealing with moveable tool storage cabinets, most of which weigh hundreds of pounds, simple friction type brake systems are ineffective, and in some situations, dangerous.
In addition to the prior art brake systems described above which are currently in use on moveable tool storage cabinets, hospital crash carts and the like, the applicant also investigated brake systems in general as they are utilized on other non-analogous structures. Again, applicant found such non-analogous brake systems inadequate to satisfy the braking requirements of the present invention.
For these and other reasons, the brake systems of the prior art are not satisfactory. There currently exists a need for a brake system capable of actuating and releasing multiple brakes from a single remote location and capable of applying, through the use of leverage, greater braking power to stop and hold moveable tool storage cabinets and the like, which are most often possessed of great weight.